Mobile services suspended in Kashmir for I-Day functions

Srinagar, Aug 15 (UNI) The level of threat perception in Srinagar and other parts of the Kashmir valley today was so high that all mobile operators suspended their services for about three hours till the Independence Day functions passed off peacefully.

Sources said all mobile operators -- BSNL, Airtel and Aircell -- were directed by the authorities to suspend their services in the entire Kashmir valley till the I-Day functions were over at all the district headquarters and major townships.

Subscribers in Srinagar faced a tough time to contact their relatives and friends on mobile phones for the entire period when the main I-Day function was going on at the Bakshi Stadium here where Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad took the salute and unfurled the tricolour.

The network coverage/signal on the cellphones went off exactly at 1000 hrs. While the government-owned BSNL restored its services at 1235 hrs, private operators -- Airtel and Aircell -- had not resumed their operations till 1400 hrs.

The sources said militants in the past have used cellphones to operate, coordinate and carry out terror strikes in the Kashmir valley. For foolproof security and to ensure that no untoward incident occurred, the authorities had directed the mobile operators to suspend their services till I-Day functions passed off peacefully.

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